Fairtrade Foundation appoints new CEO

Eleanor Harrison will join Fairtrade Foundation in March 2025 | Photo credit: Fairtrade Foundation

Fairtrade Foundation has appointed ‘visionary changemaker and strategist’ Eleanor Harrison as its new CEO. 
 

In a press release, the non-profit said Harrison will join in March 2025 and brings more than 20 years’ experience leading purpose-driven organisations, including as CEO of London-based youth charity Impetus, online platform GlobalGiving UK and asylum NGO Safe Passage. 
 

In 2016, Harrison received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for Services to International Development.    

“I’m thrilled to be joining The Fairtrade Foundation at such an exciting point in time. Fairtrade’s mission speaks to my values. To connect producers and consumers and promote fairer trading conditions so producers can earn a fair income has never been more vital. Trade can and must work better for people and planet at this critical time of heightened political, economic and environmental volatility and fragility,” she said.  

Harrison succeeds Michael Gidney who stepped down as CEO in December 2024 after 12 years at the helm of Fairtrade Foundation. Chief Financial Officer Fiona Kindness will serve as Interim CEO until Harrison joins the ethical trade group. 

Fairtrade’s global coffee network comprises nearly 900,000 certified coffee farmers across 31 countries. According to data cited by the organisation, smallholder farmers are responsible for 60% of global coffee production. However, approximately half are living in poverty and nearly a quarter live in extreme poverty. 

In December 2024, Fairtrade Foundation sought to dispel claims that record coffee prices are directly benefitting coffee farmers. In a press release, the ethical trade group said coffee farmers continue to face damaging market volatility despite the record C price, stating that higher prices ‘are often temporary and fail to address the challenges and inequalities faced by those at the start of the supply chain’.